


Don't Be Afraid

by oceantovre



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Astraphobia, Bokuaka - Freeform, Bokuto is a sweetheart, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fear, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluffy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, fear of thunder, they're so cute my lil owls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-06-28 03:59:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15699711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceantovre/pseuds/oceantovre
Summary: Akaashi is afraid of thunderstorms, but thankfully he has Bokuto for a roommate and that owl won't let his setter suffer.aka: bokuaka fluff fluff fluff





	Don't Be Afraid

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So some of you might notice that this is a remake of an old fic that I wrote and deleted that had basically the same premise but was shorter and poorly written, so I re-wrote this so I would feel better about it. I didn't edit this, so pls ignore any minor errors.  
> Please leave a comment because I love love love to read them so much!

The sound was so faint that Bokuto wasn’t even entirely sure that he heard it, causing him to pause outside of Akaashi’s door, his ear pressed up to the hard wood. Sure enough, after a few moments of listening, Bokuto heard that same pitiful whimpering sound a second time. 

“Akaashi?” Bokuto asked, gently tapping his knuckles against the door in order to be as quiet as possible. There was no answer, but Bokuto wasn’t surprised. They had only been sharing an apartment for about two weeks, but because of high school Bokuto was well used to Akaashi’s quiet and reserved demeanor. If anything, he admired it. Bokuto was always told he was too loud, too much; Akaashi was always admired and revered. 

“Akaashi, can I come in?” Bokuto asked, starting to press down on the door handle so that Akaashi would know he was serious. Upon only being returned with more silence, Bokuto gently pressed the door handle down all the way and opened the door slowly so that it didn’t creak too loudly. The older man poked his head in first, to see if he could gauge the situation quickly before he had to deal with it. But, what he saw caused him to immediately suck in a fast breath of air and step inside the room. 

Although Bokuto could only see Akaashi’s head poking out of a small mountain of navy blue blankets, it was obvious that the younger man was curled up in a ball in the corner of his room, as far from the window as possible. Outside of the tall window was a massive storm that had been going on for around an hour, consisting of thunder so loud that it even set Bokuto on edge. Bokuto quickly entered the room and rushed over to Akaashi, his hands hovering above the younger man, as he was unsure what he could do and what was appropriate. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Bokuto asked, causing Akaashi to startle and jolt inside of his blankets, turning up to look at Bokuto, but his eyes never making contact with the older man’s exactly. 

“I-I’m fine, Bokuto-s-san,” Akaashi answered shakily, making an effort to sit up and unwrap the blankets from around himself. Then, a bright flash of lightning illuminated the room, and Akaashi let out a half-groan half-whimper before burying his head back into the blankets and pulling it up to cover his ears. Seconds later, a crack of thunder followed, loud enough for even Bokuto to feel a bit rattled. He watched the bundle that was Akaashi jump slightly at the sound, tucking up even tighter into a ball. 

Once the thunder had faded out into the sky, Bokuto stepped back towards Akaashi and put his arms around the blanketed ball of a man. After feeling out where all of Akaahi’s major limbs were, Bokuto found a way to lift the bundle up by working his hands under Akaashi’s legs and back. 

“Bokuto-san?” a small voice asked from inside the folds, laced with curiosity. The older man ignored the voice for the time being, instead bringing Akaashi out into the living room and depositing him on their couch with a dignified  _ plop _ . Before the younger setter could ask any questions, Bokuto left the room and entered the kitchen quickly. He trusted that Akaashi would stay on the couch in the time it took Bokuto to collect tea and the honey that Akaashi liked to put in his. 

Sure enough, when Bokuto re-entered the living room, Akaashi was sitting curled in his blankets. Bokuto put the tea down on a plate next to Akaashi on the end table, putting the little cup of warm honey down beside it. The setter eyed the tea carefully, like he was scared it was going to bite, before gradually sitting up and reaching out for the cup. At the same moment, another flash of lightning lit up the room even through the closed blinds and Akaashi let out a small, choked sob before abandoning his quest to reach the tea and curled back up into his tight blanketed ball.  Bokuto felt a deep pang in his chest as he watched his friend curl up in fear of the thunderstorm. It didn’t help that Bokuto also had a long-held crush on his former setter, which meant that what he  _ wanted  _ to do was hold Akaashi and kiss his head and whisper that everything would be okay. Mostly because, even though he knew Akaashi was gay, he doubted that the setter would like anybody as loud and obnoxious as Bokuto. Therefore, what he  _ had  _ to do was quickly find another way to calm down Akaashi and distract him from the storm. 

As soon as the thunder passed, Bokuto shifted over on the couch slightly so that he was closer to balled-up Akaashi, who at this point had completely abandoned the tea in favor of flopping over on the couch and letting out sounds that mixed between groans, whimpers, and sobs. 

“Hey, ‘Kaashi,” Bokuto said carefully, laying down a hand tentatively on where he figured out Akaashi’s shoulder was. “I’m going to put on a movie, okay? Do you have any suggestions?” 

Akaashi was silent for a second, and Bokuto almost panicked until he heard something grumbled out from the man within the blankets. He couldn’t quite pick out what had been said, so he turned the bundle of blankets so that he could see the top half of Akaashi’s face poking out. Bokuto was distracted for a moment by the pretty gunmetal blue eyes that are peering out at him, but then the older man just smiled and raised his eyebrows. “What did you say?” 

Akaashi’s eyes narrowed, then he looked away from Bokuto before saying slightly more clearly, “ _ Gattaca _ .” 

Bokuto couldn’t help the broad smile that overtook his face as soon as Akaashi said the words.  _ Gattaca  _ was Akaashi’s favorite movie, and it had been since he had been introduced to it through a friend he had met in his astrophysics class. Akaashi tried to be nonchalant about it, but Bokuto knew that the setter always got really excited about watching the movie. It would be a perfect way to distract Akaashi, plus Bokuto had another idea in mind on top of that. 

He told Akaashi to drink some tea while he got up to put the movie in, hoping that the thunder would stay silent while he did so. Thankfully, there seemed to be a lull in the storm as the only sounds were heavy rain against their window, but no lightning or loud thunder. He heard Akaashi making slight hums as he put honey into his tea, and Bokuto breathed a silent sigh of relief that, at least for the moment, Akaashi was okay. 

After the movie was in and started with the volume up enough to hear it over the storm but quiet enough that he could still talk to Akaashi, Bokuto grabbed himself a blanket and sat down next to his roommate, both of them sitting with their legs criss-crossed and their knees touching. Akaashi still had blankets around him, over his shoulder, and over his lap, but at least now his face was out and his hands were free. This made it obvious to Bokuto that Akaashi was sweating slightly, with the slight curls around his forehead and cheeks sticking to his skin in a way that shouldn’t have been so enticing. It must have been a side effect of both the fear and staying stuck under all of those blankets.  The setter was vaguely watching the movie, but his eyes kept glancing towards the window and Bokuto knew that it was time to move on to the second part of his plan. 

“Okay, Akaashi, we’re going to play a game,” Bokuto said, turning himself a little so that he was facing Akaashi more directly. The setter in response raised an eyebrow skeptically, but the gesture looked less threatening when paired with the permanently frightened expression. 

“Don’t look at me like that, Akaashi,” Bokuto whined, leaning sideways against the couch dramatically. “I used to play it in like the first year of high school to pass time at lunch.” 

Akaashi still had his eyes narrowed so Bokuto just smiled and poked through the blankets at the setter’s stomach. “C’mon, I promise it’ll be fun-well maybe not fun-but distracting. It’s easy. All you have to do is just ask questions back and forth and the first person to say they won’t answer a question loses.” 

“Bokuto-san, that d-doesn’t sound like a game,” Akaashi said, flinching slightly when there was a low rumble of thunder in the distance. 

“Fine, then we’ll call it a talk,” Bokuto conceded. “But I promise it will help distract you.”

Akaashi seemed to consider the proposal, before finally sighing and looking back over at Bokuto with narrowed eyes. “On one condition.” “Yeah, anything,” Bokuto responded, because he didn’t care _what_ the condition was as long as he got to play this game and distract Akaashi from the storm outside that slowly sounded like it was gaining a second wave.  

“I want to have three passes, just in case you ask something I don’t want to answer but I don’t want the game -the talk- to stop. ” Akaashi said, looking away as if he was shy. If Bokuto didn’t know any better he would have thought he saw a slight reddish tint on the setter’s cheeks. 

“Okay, sure,” Bokuto. “But if you use three passes and then you don’t answer another, you really do lose, ‘Kaashi.” 

“Okay, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said. “But I won’t lose.”

Bokuto smiled wide, noticing that Akaashi had turned a little so that they were facing each other and both of their teas had been put down and out of the way. A flash of lightning flashed through the blinds and Bokuto saw Akaashi inhale and hold his breath while waiting for the thunder to come. The small pained expression on Akaashi’s face sent a flash of sympathy through Bokuto. The setter’s eyes were closed, with his nose scrunched up and his bottom lip tucked between his teeth in anticipation of the thunder. Bokuto knew he only had a few seconds to do  _ anything  _ to help Akaashi before the thunder came, so he quickly thrust out his hands to cover the setter’s ears, just in time for a loud clap of thunder. 

Once it had stopped, Akaashi’s eyes snapped open with a look of confusion on his face. Bokuto gasped a little, retracting his hands and folding them in his lap, pressing them down into the blanket. “S-sorry, Akaashi. I didn’t mean to-” 

“It’s okay, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi quickly said, but didn’t make eye contact with the older man. “Let’s just play your game now.” 

Bokuto sighed, thankful that Akaashi wasn’t making a big deal about Bokuto touching him like that without permission or anything. “Okay, ‘Kaashi.” 

“What’s your favorite color, Bokuto-san?” Akaashi asked, now looking up to have his eyes meet Bokuto’s. The sudden eye contact caused Bokuto to stutter for a second, before he collected himself and smiled. 

“Dark blue,” Bokuto said. “Kinda like our old practice shirts from Fukurodani.”

“Isn’t that navy?” Akaashi asked. 

Bokuto considered the question, then looked back into the blue of Akaashi’s eyes. No, he wouldn’t call them navy. They were dark blue gunmetal orbs, not as simple as the word  _ navy.  _

“Nope,” Bokuto said. “Dark blue.” 

Akaashi shrugged, and Bokuto smiled to himself as the setter barely reacted to a rumble of thunder in the distance. Hopefully that meant that the distraction was working. 

“Okay, my turn,” Bokuto said, humming to himself as he tried to think of something to ask. Even though this had been his idea, he realized that he didn’t have an arsenal ready like he really should have. “Uhhhh…” 

“Bokuto-san, you said you played this in your first year, so just use some of those questions,” Akaashi suggested, now fiddling his fingers and shifting in his seat. 

“Uh, I don’t know if I can use them,” Bokuto said, scrunching up his nose at the memory of the types of questions that had been used back in the first year of high school. They weren’t his proudest memories, but it turned out okay since his life went up significantly in quality in his second year, once Akaashi came to Fukurodani. 

“Why not?” Akaashi asked. 

Bokuto felt a flush rising on his cheeks. “They were all questions about...you know, like weird things. Like who we had a crush on and who the last person we kissed was. Stupid high school kid stuff.” 

“Why can’t you ask me those, Bokuto-san?” 

Bokuto’s eyes widened as he looked over at the setter next to him. “Isn’t that weird?” 

At that moment, an obnoxiously loud peal of thunder caused Akaashi to literally jump a foot in the air from his already seated position, and let out a loud yell. When he landed, he instantly curled back up into a trembling blanket ball emitting small whimpers every few seconds. His lithe form was shaking with sobs as he buried his face in the blanket. 

Bokuto watched, unsure of what exactly he should do. He didn’t want to infringe on Akaashi’s personal space, but there wasn’t really another choice except sit there and watch his best friend/crush cry himself into a blanketed ball of despair. Slowly, Bokuto reached around to put his arms around the setter, and then pulled Akaashi and all of the blankets up into his lap. Once he had the bundle in his lap, he made sure that Akaashi’s head was facing up before sliding the blanket back so he could see the setter’s face. He almost wished that he hadn’t. 

Akaashi’s eyes were glossy, red, and filled with unshed tears. His bottom lip was trembling and he was trying his hardest to look anywhere except at Bokuto. It was so different from the usual stoicism that Bokuto always saw from the setter, and the scene made the older man feel compelled to squeeze his arms tighter around the man in his arms. 

“Okay, Akaashi,” Bokuto said, trying to keep his voice even. “Time for my question, yeah? Don’t listen to the storm, just listen to me.” 

“B-Bokuto…” Akaashi said, and the lack of the usual honorific made Bokuto feel a slight panic, but he kept going. At least if Akaashi was talking, it meant he was a  _ little  _ bit less scared. 

“My turn, okay? So,” Bokuto said, making sure Akaashi was looking and then wiggling his eyebrows dramatically to try and make the setter smile. The best he got was a slight upturn of Akaashi’s lips, but it was enough. “Who do you have a crush on?” 

“Pass.” The answer came almost instantly, and Bokuto’s jaw dropped. 

“Akaashi!” Bokuto whined. “I worked so hard on that question.” 

“My turn. What’s your favorite animal?” 

“It’s an owl, Akaashi, I  _ know  _ you know that!” Bokuto complained. “But fine! My question.  _ Do you  _ have a crush on someone?” 

“It’s the same question, Bokuto-san.” 

“No, it’s different. This one doesn’t include a name…” 

“Pass.” 

“Akaashi!” Bokuto said, throwing his head back and smiling to himself when he felt the bundle in his lap laughing. The storm sounded like it was fading, which Bokuto was grateful for. He leaned back up, and Akaashi was looking at him intently. Before he could ask why, the setter asked the next question. 

“Do I have bigger hands than you?” 

Bokuto blinked at the odd question, but Akaashi didn’t look phased in the slightest. “I don’t think so, ‘Kaashi. My hands must be big from spiking.” 

“I th-think mine are bigger,” Akaashi said skeptically, then pulled a hand out from under the blanket and held it up in front of Bokuto to compare. The older man was suddenly suspicious, because now that he was looking more, it seemed very possible that Akaashi’s hand was larger than his. 

Slowly, Bokuto raised up his hand and placed it on Akaashi’s. There was a moment of silence between the two of them. 

“Akaashi! That isn’t fair, your fingers are longer!”    
“My hand is bigger Bokuto-san.” 

“Why does this even matter?” Bokuto whined. 

“Pass.” Akaashi said, and it took Bokuto a second to remember that he had inadvertently asked a question. 

“‘Kaashi, you used all of your passes now,” Bokuto said, a little bit upset because that probably meant that the game was going to be over soon. Though, he supposed it wasn’t too much of an issue because the storm seemed to have mostly moved on after that last loud thunderclap. “I thought you said you weren’t going to lose.” 

“I’m not going to lose.” Akaashi said plainly. Only at that moment did Bokuto realize that Akaashi had turned to face him and in the process had basically ended up straddling Bokuto with his hands placed down in both of their laps. 

“Oh?” Bokuto responded, both as an answer to what Akaashi had said and because his brain couldn’t think of anything intelligent to say. 

“Can I make a deal?” Akaashi asked, and Bokuto wasn’t going to deny the setter anything, so he just nodded. Akaashi continued, “If I ask you something and you lie, you lose.”

“I wouldn’t lie...” Bokuto said, trailing off, but one look from Akaashi’s red-rimmed eyes and the older man sighed and accepted the deal. 

“Ok, my question,” Akaashi said, leaning in closer to Bokuto. “Why are you helping me?” 

Bokuto took a second to think about the question, because he knew immediately that he was going to have to lie. There was absolutely  _ no way  _ that he could explain how much he cared about Akaashi and how much it hurt to see him in pain without risking their friendship by trying to make it something more. Besides, there was no way that Akaashi could know he was lying. 

“Because we’re friends, ‘Kaashi,” Bokuto started, trying to make it sound obvious. “And we’re roommates now which means that we’re like, responsible for each other right? So, I have to help you whenever I can.” 

Bokuto looked back at Akaashi, who narrowed his eyes before leaning back slightly. 

“You lied, Bokuto-san.” 

“What? No, I didn’t! How would you know?” 

A little smile played on Akaashi’s face for a moment. “You always clench your fists when you lie, but your arms are around me, so I felt them tighten.” 

“Wha-?” 

“So what’s the truth Bokuto-san?” 

Bokuto swallowed thickly, looking back down at Akaashi. It wouldn’t be that bad to tell the truth right? Akaashi would probably be understanding of the situation even if he didn’t reciprocate Bokuto’s feelings. But what if he wasn’t? What if Akaashi thought he was weird and wanted to move out of their apartment, and then-

“Stop thinking so much and answer me,” Akaashi said, poking Bokuto’s chest.

“I like you, like alot.” Bokuto said it quickly, trying to get it done with. He looked away from Akaashi, down at the edge of the couch. “And I know that might be weird, and you might not like me, but I just don’t want to lie again, so I’m just trying to be honest, but you probably think I’m weird right, and that’s why you don’t like me-” 

“Bokuto-san.” 

Akaashi’s calm words broke through Bokuto’s loud rant, and the older man turned back towards Akaashi, ready to be rejected, when suddenly he felt lips on his own. It took him a second to realize  _ Akaashi was kissing him _ and it took him another second to start  _ kissing back _ . Sliding his head to the side, he slotted their lips together so that he had better access to Akaashi’s mouth. He felt Akaashi’s hands tighten into fists on his chest, and he used his leverage with his arms around Akaashi to pull the setter in closer. Bokuto wasn’t sure exactly what was happening, but he was sure that he liked it and never wanted it to stop.

Eventually, they had to pull away because there was no air left between them, and Bokuto stared with wide eyes at the man in front of him. Akaashi was beautiful, with the red in his eyes mostly gone and his lips red and slick with spit.

“B-Bokuto-san,” he said, quietly. “I like you too.”

A wide smile broke on Bokuto’s face, and a warm feeling spread through his chest. He pulled Akaashi in tighter until the smaller man was pressed tightly up against Bokuto’s chest. The older man felt Akaashi laughing against him, as the setter struggled to pull away in vain. 

“Akaashi, why didn’t you tell me?” Bokuto complained. “I liked you for so long, I could have been kissing you sooner.” 

“Shut up, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said, leaning forward and capturing Bokuto’s lips again. 

“Does this make you my boyfriend?” Bokuto asked once they pulled away. 

“If you want to,” Akaashi replied. 

“I do, I really do.”

“I guess you’re my boyfriend then, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi responded with a cute smile. 

Just as Bokuto started smiling, a random boom of thunder shook the apartment and Akaashi pulled away to bury his face in Bokuto’s chest, sucking in a deep breath. 

“Let’s just get you through the storm now,” Bokuto said. “ _ Gattaca  _ is still on, and I can hold you to make sure that you don’t get as scared.” 

“Y-yeah,” Akaashi said into Bokuto’s chest, his fists clinging to the older man’s tee-shirt. “Good idea.” 

The storm passed quickly, and there thankfully wasn’t another for quite a while. But at least Akaashi knew that if there ever was a storm, Bokuto would be there to make sure the setter was okay. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please leave comments and kudos if you did!  
> Also I think I should name my account "the only movie people watch in my fics is Gattaca" because this is the third time I've used it XD


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